Not surprisingly, Madea’s so-called big happy family is not exactly a cheerful clan. Actor, director, producer Tyler Perry loves to skewer the private and public foibles of the modern black family. And his latest effort “Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family,” is no exception. Perry returns to his heartfelt themes of love, loss, disappointment, family secrets and general comic excess that are the hallmarks of Perry’s Madea films. 
“Big Happy Family” delivers on the laughs. Some gags are laugh-out loud funny – Madea driving through a drive-thru restaurant because she could not stomach being told it’s 10:31 a.m., and they have stopped serving breakfast. Other gags are just worth a chuckle – Madea slapping a disrespectful boy into the middle of next week. Perry as Madea often seems to be on the verge of Carol Burnett Show-style breaking as the actor – gussied up in full Madea regalia complete with pearls – struggles to keep from laughing at his own comic creation.
The film’s premise is centered on a family member who receives some dire news about her health. For the first act, it is unclear what connection Madea has to these people. In fact, an hour goes by before you see Madea interact with them. Apparently, the sick relative (played to perfection by Loretta Devine) is Madea’s “favorite niece,” Shirley. And Madea is called upon to gather Shirley’s children and grandchildren so they can hear the distressing news about Shirley’s health. Madea agrees to this task although she and Shirley have different parenting styles. Madea explains “she likes to pray and I like to punish.”
But before the fateful super, Madea has to deliver more than a few heartfelt diatribes about how this one is disrespecting his elders or how that one is forgetting where she came from.
Madea’s relatives come from three strata of the modern black family like the bourgeoisie, the “hood rats”, and the blue collar workers. In his earlier films (“The Family That Preys,” “Why Did I Get Married?,” and “Diary of a Mad Black Woman”), Perry leaned heavily on a fourth group making up the black family – the church-goers. They are all but absent here. Still, the “churchies” receive an occasional nod in the film. Madea tells her mechanic that he’s incompetent because she has to “pray” to get her car to start each morning. “And you know God don’t like me,” she says. Madea’s relatives are usually the god-fearing sort but Madea, herself, says she’ll return to church when they get a smoking section.
In “Big Happy Family,” there is a throw-away subplot involving the true parentage of Madea’s daughter Cora (played by the stalwart Tamela Mann).
In the film, Perry gives many of the best comic situations to Aunt Bam (Cassi Davis); Madea’s sister, who is a rounder, shorter version of Madea. Aunt Bam spends much of her time smoking pot, eating, and trying to seduce a man one-third her age. It could be that Perry is grooming Davis to take over as the mantle of the trash talking, take no prisoners grandma.
Could it be that Perry is ready to hang up his dress? Stay tuned.
The film also stars Shad “Bow wow” Moss as Byron; David Mann as Brown; Lauren London as Renee; Isaiah Mustafa as Calvin; Rodney Perry as Harold; Shannon Kane as Kimberly; Tyana Taylor as Sabrina: Natalie Desselle Reid as Tammy, and of course Tyler Perry as Madea and her brother Joe. Perry also serves as screenwriter and director.
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